Statement on Libya and the wave of popular
uprisingsSocialist Party USA, International
Commission March 17, 2011

Although
we
are barely two months into 2011, tumultuous revolts have already
made history in the Middle East and North Africa. Masses of people,
from all walks of life, broke free from their respective authoritarian
governments to protest and fight for freedom, democracy, and better
living conditions. We have seen two of the region's most
entrenched dictators brought down from power: Ben Ali of Tunisia and
Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. The successful people's revolts in Tunisia and
Egypt, though nowhere near finished, inspired similar mass movements
all across the region; from Morocco to Iran, Yemen to Syria, and even
in U.S. occupied Iraq.

In Libya, a mass movement by the Libyan people to end the 41-year
authoritarian rule of Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi has seen murderous
state-sponsored violence against unarmed protesters.

The United States, however, remains the greatest purveyor of violence
in the world, conducting two wars in the Middle East and supplying many
dictators, including Qaddafi, with the weapons to suppress their own
people. The U.S. has no credibility to intervene in Libya on
humanitarian grounds, nor can the international community credibly sit
in judgment of Qaddafi while turning a blind eye to crimes of the
United States.

The popular uprising in Libya began
with a
protest in Benghazi against the inhumane imprisonment of Fathi Terbil,
a Libyan human rights activist. Within two days, on February 17th, a
Day of Revolt resulted in the deaths of at least a dozen protesters.
Within days, what was a small protest erupted into a mass movement
against Colonel Qaddafi and the Libyan government. Despite Colonel
Qaddafi's statement that he would “die as a martyr,” and an onslaught
from loyalist soldiers and war planes, the revolt only became more
defiant and grew in strength and numbers. Now protesters control
several key cities and regions, leading many to fear the outbreak of
civil war. The International Commission of the Socialist Party USA
stands in solidarity with the people's movement for democratic rights
in Libya.

While the international response should be one of unity and solidarity
with the Libyan protesters, the response of western nations has instead
been marred by underlying imperialist goals and tactics that blatantly
do not work. Until now, Libyan oil has served as a bribe between the
Libyan government and several European nations, most notably Great
Britain, in exchange for peace with Colonel Qaddafi and indifference
towards his authoritarian regime. Now, the imperialists in the United
States and Europe have deemed that Colonel Qaddafi's fall will benefit
them more than continuing to support his authoritarian regime.

The United Nations Security Council decided
unanimously to impose sanctions on Libya, a tactic that has found very
little success elsewhere and has historically only increased the
economic strain on the working class. More troubling is the fact that
the United States has positioned naval war ships and Marines near
Libya, in the event that
they deem it in their best interest to invade Libya and forcibly remove
Colonel Qaddafi from power. This was a blatantly wrong move in Iraq
that only created widespread suffering for the Iraqi people in the
interest of achieving larger oil profits, and it is a blatantly wrong
move now. President Obama has refused to rule out military
intervention, instead declaring that all options remain on the table.
In reality, the United States has already intervened in Libya by arming
the Qaddafi regime under the imperialist banner of the “War on Terror”.
The blame for the bloodshed in Libya does not only fall on Muammar
Qaddafi, but also on the American government. Imperialist military
intervention is the exact opposite of what the Libyan people want and
need.

As with protests in Tunisia, Egypt, all across the Middle East, North
Africa, and the planet as a whole, the Socialist Party USA stands firm
in our support for all mass movements that aim to better the lives of
the working class and to create a more democratic society. We strongly
condemn the use of violence by the authoritarian Qaddafi regime to
prolong its inevitable collapse. We also strongly oppose any
imperialist intrusion on the freedom or democratic rights of the Libyan
people, both in the present and after Colonel Qaddafi is out of power.
We call upon the compassionate people of the United States to join us
in protest against war, imperialism, and militarism on April 9th and
10th.